Switch Characters On The Fly In Estpolis

Estpolis: The Lands Cursed by the Gods is based on Lufia II, a console RPG with a party of characters to control in turn based battles. Estpolis is in real time, but still lets players switch between Maxim and Tia.

By touching character portraits on the bottom screen players can change characters instantly, even in the middle of a combo. See the pictures above? Those are stills from an impressively smooth mid-combo Maxim to Sophie switch. Each character has a different attack set and a unique wave art. Let’s take a look at them.

Maxim: Cross Dash

Sophia: Icicle Blade

Tia: Hook Shot

Wave arts aren’t only used to set skeletons ablaze, you need them to beat dungeons too. Tia’s hook shot, for example, allows the party to clear gaps. Estpolis also has awesome looking dual screen boss battles.

All of these changes make Estpolis appear grander in scale than the average remake. Square Enix isn’t just giving Lufia II a facelift, the gameplay is getting a complete makeover.

That’s crazy talk, sir. Ring of Fates and Echoes of Time are both a blast to play, and even more fun if you have friends to play with. I have faith in Neverland though; they are the driving force behind Rune Factory after all.

Joanna

I agree with you Ishaan, Ring of Fates gets a lot of hate, but I found it a blast to play (and I play alone). The A.I isn’t worse then the Mana A.I from Secret, which by the way is the worst A.I. ever! I personally always ignore computer controlled characters and go at it solo. I also picked up Echoes recently, but I have yet to actually opened it.

hsiao

They are just under apreciated for some reasons, which probably are:

1) ring of fates because of the very bad partner AI

2) echoes of time because it came out also on Wii, with an absurd DS to Wii direct porting that damage the reputation of the game.

Or at least I think so, as I can’t think of any other serious problem in two of the more rewarding portable hack and slash ever, which for some reasons aren’t really resonating with the general consensus.

Damn, talk about Ys Seven influence. This can’t be just a coincidence!

dv8shun

Did anyone else like Lufia II except for the puzzle aspect? Seemed like every few rooms you had to stop everything and solve some stupid, non-rewarding puzzle.

DarkAesthir

Even more than the gameplay, I wonder what they’re going to do with the world.
Tia’s character design doesn’t look anything like her old “lovelorn childhood friend” shtick. Now she’s more of a gadget junkie, with the goggles and the suitcase full of wrenches, screwdrivers, bear trap (hookshot?), and a mildly creepy bear.
I hope Dekar’s gonna show up still as over-the-top.
And btw, I thought the blue-haired girl was named Serena/Selena/Selan, not Sophia/Sophie.

Joanna

“All of these changes make Estpolis appear grander in scale than the average remake. Square Enix isn’t just giving Lufia II a facelift, the gameplay is getting a complete makeover.”
WHY SQUARE WHY? Lufia doesn’t need a facelift, it has a really good battle system. T__________T Of course I know I’m in the minority here, but still, Turn Based Menu Driven Battle Systems are still my preferred style of RPG. And Lufia did it best by getting rid of the random encounters (which for a lot of people is the biggest turn off, I don’t mind them, but it can get tedious if the encounter rate is too high)

Jirin

Does that mean there’s more than one PC on screen at the same time, all but one being controlled by AI? I hope not. The last thing the game needs is any similarity to Tales.

I wouldn’t put it beyond Square-Enix to creatively interfere with games they’re publishing. You can’t tell me Square-Enix didn’t have input in the combat of Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Blindsides and rush breaks are far more Final Fantasy-ish than the more tactical combat of the previous Star Ocean games.

Video game stories from other sites on the web. These links leave Siliconera.